Avenue of honour

The Avenue of Honour in Bacchus Marsh.

Avenue of Honour is the term given to a memorial avenue of trees, with each tree symbolising a person.

The tradition, which originated in the Goldfields region of Victoria, Australia is an important part of Australian culture. There are 547 known avenues of honour in Australia, in all states and territories except the Northern Territory. Over half are in Victoria.^[1]

Most avenues are in remembrance of those who fought or died war, particularly World War I (1914–1918), although the earliest recorded avenues were planted in remembrance of Australia's participation in the Second Boer War (1899-1902).^[1] Since soldiers were grouped by the place they were recruited, a military defeat often meant all of the men of eligible age from the town were killed in the same battle. Many of the avenue's trees include metal plaques naming the victims.

Many of these avenues now feature large, established trees and exotic species.

Several of these avenues are listed on the Victorian Heritage Register; most others are afforded local levels of heritage protection through the various Local government in Australia and the National Trust of Australia; however, many such avenues have since been affected by road development.

An online project titled "Avenues of Honour 1915-2015" (www.avenuesofhonour.org) has been established by Treenet, the urban tree research and education organisation based at the University of Adelaide's Waite Arboretum.^[1]

State significant avenues

Victory Arch at the entrance to the Avenue of Honour, Ballarat

• Ballarat — The longest(22 kilometres & 3,912 trees) of the Avenues of Honour, made ever grander by its Arch of Victory.^[2][3]
• Bacchus Marsh Road — The avenue of elm trees serves as a tribute to local people who enlisted in the First World War. The 281 trees were simultaneously planted on the call of a bugle in 1918.^[4]
• Eurack^[5]
• Macedon-Woodend Road, Shire of Macedon Ranges^[6]

Other Victorian Avenues of Honour

• Anglesea – relatively unusual in that flowering gums (corymbia ficifolia) were planted. Seventy-two trees were planted but only three or four remain.^[7]
• Ballarat East — A second lesser known Avenue of Honour once marked the eastern entrance to Ballarat at Victoria Street. A handful of trees remain on one side of the road, the rest having been demolished, most during construction of the rail flyover in the 1960s.
• Mount Macedon^[8]
• Booroopki^[9]
• Buchan South^[10]
• Daylesford
• Hotspur^[11]
• Kongwak
• Lakes Entrance^[12]
• Lysterfield^[13]
• Wandin North - also planted with flowering gums.^[14]
• Woodend North
• Ballarat Orphanage's Arthur Kenny Avenue^[15]

Avenues of Honour outside Victoria

• Yungaburra, Queensland^[16]
• Manly Vale, Sydney, New South Wales – established in 2005 to commemorate the service and sacrifice of Merchant Navy personnel in two world wars.^[17]
• Cowra, New South Wales^[18]
• O'Connell, New South Wales
• Albany, Western Australia
• Armadale, Western Australia
• Kings Park, Western Australia - May Drive, Lovekin Drive and Marri Walk ^[19]
• Hobart, Tasmania

See also

• Tree Avenue or tree alley (allée)

References

Further reading

Haddow, Janine (1987). Avenues of Honour in Victoria (Master of Landscape Architecture). University of Melbourne. 

Taffe, Michael. Victoria's Avenues of Honour to the Great War Lost to the Landscape. (Bachelor of Arts Hons). University of Melbourne. 2006.

Taffe, Michael. '90th Anniversary of our Avenues of Honour', Australian Garden History Journal p.24, Vol.17 No.5 May/June 2006.